English Chess Forum

Warren,
If you play the Slav, then you have to accept that your opponent might play the exchange variation and a fairly boring position is quite likely. I suspect 7..... b6 is not a very good idea, Bb5+ might be annoying. You should probably try to play a6 before e6 and try to develop your Bishop to f5 or g4.

Don't play the Slav.

Wise words.

The Slav's my main defence to 1. d4 It has been for years, it's sound and I score well with it.

But for an 'open up and attack kind of guy' at your level I would suggest the Benko Gambit (which I scored well with in my youth), the Dutch or the King's Indian.

Personally, I think the King's Indian is very difficult for the average club player to handle and my suggestion would be the Grunfeld.

The Benoni would be another option. You may have to put up with some players not playing 3 d5 after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 or playing 2 Nf3 though.

Yeah that could possibly be true. I think the Dutch is the best option of the three I suggested, because you always can get your opening in - 1.d4 f5! and get the structure you want. The plans are easy to understand. Check Simon Williams' games for example, he's also done a good DVD on the opening.

I agree completely with Simon. I joined in the joke about the Slav, for exactly the same reasons. It’s my main defence, and I am happy with it. But I’m no young Tal either. (Of course the old Tal played the Slav )

Everything has pluses and minuses. But the Dutch has a lot to recommend it:
1. Although there are dull lines in every opening, there is nothing like the exchange slav or exchange KID to worry about. Most Dutch lines have built in imbalance.
2. It is respectable enough to rely on, but unusual enough that your opponents do not play against it every week
3. With a bit of extra work, you can use it against flank openings too. (whatever you play, you need a bit of extra work. But 1. Nf3 is a real problem for a benoni/ benko/ grunfeld repertoire)
4. The theory does not change every week, but there is enough that if you invest some time in study you will get some benefit over the board
5. There are some good training materials available

I don’t know Simon Wiliams as well as Simon Ansell does, so I have no reason to be shy in recomending his products If only because GM Chernaiev said I owed Simon some money after I surprised him with one of the Killer French recommendations

I will have to agree totally around the Dutch, at lower levels it works fine, I have played it consistently for over 15 years in some form or other. It is only been in the last year or so, I saw it becoming very predictable and easy for stronger players to play against it, so I have decided to supplement the Dutch with the Slavs

I like the slab, there are some weird lines that make 1.d4 look like it is a mistake.